I'm working through a rather difficult Japanese reader which was intended to be used in the classroom and doesn't include English translations of the passages (the author casually says in the introduction that if you're using the book on your own you could ask one of your native Japanese friends for help).

I was thinking of asking one of my former Japanese teachers if she could review my translations and give me feedback. This would all by by email of course. Each reading passage is about two letter size pages of typing.

Any idea what a reasonable rate to pay her would be? I assume I would pay an amount per reading passage. Thanks.

If it helps - you could probably find someone on Lang-8 to do if for free. Two pages at once might be a bit intimidating, but if you chunk it up a bit people will probably have a go - especially if you help them.
(of course paying someone will probably give a better result, but I have no idea what a fair price is - maybe you should just ask your teacher how much she would want?)

Depends on who's doing the correcting: if it's a Japanese high school kid, $5/hour should cover it. If it's the CEO of Microsoft, it would be more like $50,000/hour.

Just because this is unqualified labor, doesn't mean it's fair to ask a person with a college degree and years of teaching experience to do it for minimum wage. If you're asking a person with valuable skills and qualifications to work for you, it's fair to pay them whatever they usually charge.

In this case, whatever they would charge a total stranger for private lessons. I imagine it's quite a lot. You're probably better off hiring someone who's not over-qualified for the job, instead.

What if.., and I'm just spit-balling here, you didn't translate it? What if you read it, envisioned it, understood it, and then just moved forward?

Yeah, I'd recommend just reading it and if you get really confused ask in the "What's this word/phrase?" thread or on Lang-8 or something. Translating the whole thing seems like a ridiculous chore.

However, if you do end up doing this it would depend on how long it takes to correct your work. Japanese tutors usually get 2500-3000 yen per hour, but since your tutor can do it at home maybe the value is a bit less than that per hour. Maybe in the 1500-2000 yen per hour range. So maybe 500-1000 yen per e-mail if they take a half hour or so to correct.

erlog Wrote:What if.., and I'm just spit-balling here, you didn't translate it? What if you read it, envisioned it, understood it, and then just moved forward?

Thanks for the suggestion, but I find that since I am still in the learning stage, there are sentences here and there that I am not sure about and I want to make sure I am interpreting what I read correctly.

I think if I just read and don't check the parts I'm not sure of, I may never learn certain grammatical elements.

Tzadeck Wrote:Yeah, I'd recommend just reading it and if you get really confused ask in the "What's this word/phrase?" thread or on Lang-8 or something. Translating the whole thing seems like a ridiculous chore.

The very last time I posted something on "What's this word/phrase" nobody answered.

I think I'll ask my teacher, but in a subtle way. When I see her in class I'm going to ask her if she knows anyone who freelances and could take a look at my translations and tell me if I've got the basic meaning ok, and that I would of course pay for this service. I'll see where it goes from there.

Not quite. I answered you. I just didn't critique your translation. 1)because there isn't enough context. 2) I don't think translating is helpful at a beginner stage. not to mention you said

Quote:(correct me if I'm wrong)

While it wasn't perfect; it was close enough.

And it's been less than two days.

I'm not sure how much you can rely on natives to judge your English translations, or even explain basic Japanese grammar to you. You could look for a cheap translator on a freelance site or Craigslist or something, but I guess it depends on what kind of feedback you're expecting.

Personally, I'd spend the money on some easier manga (with the English editions if that's your thing) and learn some natural Japanese.

RandomQuotes Wrote:Not quite. I answered you. I just didn't critique your translation. 1)because there isn't enough context. 2) I don't think translating is helpful at a beginner stage. not to mention you said

Quote:(correct me if I'm wrong)

While it wasn't perfect; it was close enough.

And it's been less than two days.

Thanks for the feedback, but "it was close enough" doesn't help me, because I need to know what I specifically got wrong. That's why this forum might not be the best place for in-depth language learning. I can't really expect strangers on the internet to want to spend a lot of time correcting other strangers' work. This is why I think I need to hook up with a live person where I live to provide me with feedback.

I'll give another undesired response lol .... but how about find a novel that exists in both English and Japanese? Translate the Japanese to English and then check against the English version. I have Japanese Tom Sawyer book that is intended to high (junior?) high school. I bet there are lots of these types of books around